


Paint Stains

by Chrystie



Series: A Baby Robin [2]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU
Genre: Dick Grayson Week, Gen, jaydick if you squint
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-10
Updated: 2020-04-10
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:13:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,569
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23582899
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chrystie/pseuds/Chrystie
Summary: Somehow Dick getting hit by a spell that turned him back to four years old wasn’t the weirdest thing to ever happen to a member of their family.
Relationships: Dick Grayson & Alfred Pennyworth, Dick Grayson & Bruce Wayne, Dick Grayson & Damian Wayne
Series: A Baby Robin [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1697584
Comments: 10
Kudos: 242





	Paint Stains

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for Dick Grayson week Day 2: Age Reversal
> 
> It's also a companion piece to [A Baby Robin](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13100355) but you don't need to read that to read this.

Somehow Dick getting hit by a spell that turned him back to four years old wasn’t the weirdest thing to ever happen to a member of their family. It was definitely up there but it wasn’t the weirdest. The rest of the Bat family had decided to take turns taking care of him while they tried to figure out how to reverse the spell or track down the witch that did this to him.

Dick, for his part, seemed to take it in stride, not noticing anything was really wrong. He seemed to have most of his memories. At the very least he remembered everyone around him, but either his maturity had diminished with his body or he was milking the fact that he didn’t have to act like an adult anymore.

Damian had to bet on the first option because there was no way his Grayson would purposefully dip his hands in paint the way he was and just unceremoniously slap it onto the paper. It was juvenile. “Tiny Grayson! What in god’s name are you doing?”

Dick immediately perked up at the sight of Damian and moved to run at him for a hug before seemingly remembering the state of his hands. “Dami! Is it your turn now?”

“Yes, but you did not answer my question. What is that abomination you are creating.”

Unfazed by the criticism, Dick bolted up with the paper and enthusiastically showed it to Damian.

“Look it’s us! And Timmy and Bruce and Jay and Alfred and-"

Damian put a hand up to stop him. “Yes, I can see it is everyone within the family.” Really it was just stick figures spread across the entire page, each with a different type of mask. Dick still drew himself as Nightwing which meant he remembered himself fine so the fact that he was acting so childish was a mystery to Damian.

“Do you like it?” Damian obviously didn’t, it was barely art, but the wide eyed expression on Dick’s face stopped him from out rightly saying so.

“It is not terrible, but there is room for improvement.”

Dick still pouted looking at his drawing, but as ever, he quickly got over it and his excited smile was back. “Can you teach me? You’re good at art.”

“Of course I can,” Damian huffed.

“Yay!” Dick practically tried to jump on him, again forgetting his paint covered hands which meant Damian had to catch him before he got paint all over him.

“You must first wash your hands. I refuse to let you near me with the ability to stain everything.”

“Okay!” Dick jumped from Damian’s hands and raced off to the closest washroom, leaving the rest of his mess of open paints where it was on the coffee table. Alfred wouldn’t be too happy to clean that up after later.

Damian set himself up on the couch with his sketch pad and let Dick settle himself on his lap despite coming back with his hands still wet. At least they wouldn’t stain his pants. “It’ll be like old times except opposite!” Dick cheered happily, “You can teach me now.” And though loathe as Damian was to admit it, he was slightly endeared by that.

Damian wasn’t so much as teaching Dick art as much as he was just letting him watch him draw. And again, as loathe as he was to admit it, it was pretty relaxing. They sat there in silence for nearly an hour, the longest Damian had seen Dick go without talking since shrinking down to a toddler, until Dick ultimately nodded to sleep.

With a put upon sigh, Damian put his sketchbook down to carry Dick back to his room. It really was a nuisance to have to deal with a toddler. All his energy came and went at seemingly random intervals and even if he had previously been an adult, maturity was all but a hopeful wish, but maybe that had more to do with the toddler being Dick rather than all toddlers.

But well, when Dick looked at Damian like he held the answers to everything and let Damian act as the older brother for once, Damian couldn’t really say he wasn’t enjoying his time with Dick. And when he was asleep Damian could even say that he was a little cute, but only a little.

* * *

Bruce had been working tirelessly to figure out a way to cure Dick of his current state. He’d contacted Zatanna and was doing any and all research he could while he was waiting for a response from her as well as hunt down any leads on where the witch that caused this could be.

All this was made slightly more difficult during the time it was his turn to watch over Dick. It turned out that even as a child Dick still had an undying curiosity over any and all cases Bruce was working on. That was the most likely reason Dick was trying to climb onto his lap at the moment.

Bruce turned slightly just to make it easier for him and he happily crawled his way up the chair and sat himself in Bruce’s lap, trying to get a look at what he was working on before tilting his head further back to look at Bruce upside down. “Whatcha up to B?”

“I’m tracking down the witch that did this to you while also trying to find a cure.”

“But I thought you already called Z.”

“She might not have the solution to this. It’s better to be careful.”

“Ohhhhh.” Dick tilted his head towards the screen and then back to Bruce. “You work too hard, B.” 

“Because I have to.” If Bruce didn’t then who would protect the city. He couldn’t just leave it up to the rest of the family. It wasn’t a burden he was willing to bestow on all of them.

“You should let us help you more, B. Jay says that we all have marty-” Dick frowned, clearly stuck on the word. “Martery?”

“Martyr?” Bruce filled in for him.

“Yeah! That’s it. He says we all have martin complexes and it came from you.”

That did sound distinctly like something Jason would say. “I didn’t realize you were talking to Jason so much.”

Dick nodded enthusiastically. “I talk to Jay lots. He’s fun to talk to even when he’s being a grumpypuss.”

“I see.” Before Bruce could let his assumptions run wild, Dick leaned all the way back until he was flush against Bruce’s chest and could see the screen a little more comfortably. “Can I help?”

It felt weird for Bruce to feel such a wave of nostalgia when he hadn’t actually been a part of this stage of Dick’s life, but with Dick like this, he really reminded him of when he first adopted him. He was always excited to just be included in whatever Bruce was working on, whether he actually found it interesting or not. It was endearing. And not for the first time, he found himself kind of missing this time he used to spend with Dick.

“Sure.”

* * *

Alfred was in the midst of preparing some pie dough when he felt a small tug on the end of his apron. It wasn’t hard to guess who it was. “Master Dick, to what do I owe the pleasure. I was under the impression that it was Master Timothy’s turn.”

“It is, but Timmy had a ton of Wayne enterprise stuff to do and it was booooringgggg. What are you doing Alfie?”

Alfred couldn’t exactly be surprised by Dick’s lack of interest. Even as an adult, he had trouble dedicating a lot of time to Wayne Enterprises. “I am in the process of making tonight’s dessert.” Alfred would be surprised if Dick found any interest in helping him as well. He wasn’t exactly known for his prowess in the kitchen at any age.

Dick had a thoughtful look on his face though. “You used to do this with Jay a lot. I remember.”

“I did,” Alfred confirmed, “Master Jason has always had an appreciation towards the culinary arts.”

Dick hummed in consideration. “Can I help?”

Alfred was definitely shocked by the request. “Of course Master Dick. Although, I must say, I don’t recall you having any previous interest in baking.”

“You used to do this with Jay, but we never got to do stuff like this together.” Dick’s voice faded a little as he ran to the next room over to grab a stool and push it back over to Alfred. Dick climbed onto it with enough skill to not fall or tip it over, but still with enough wiggling that had Alfred at the ready to catch him at any moment. “Jay said it’s good to know how to cook but he’ll never eat anything I make.” There was a pout that came with that statement even as he righted himself to stand on the stool properly.

“I believe that would come from a reasonable sense of self preservation.”

“Alfie!” Dick pouted even harder.

“That is not to say that you cannot learn.”

Dick brightened considerably at that. It was the most attentive Alfred had ever seen Dick when it came to learning how to cook or bake. Alfred was sure it had something to do with Dick’s sudden apparent interest in Jason.

Well, the two would tell him when they were ready. 


End file.
